RE: CONFAB, RELIGION AND MEDIA

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Shuaib,

I read your piece on the so-called Reform Conference organised to deceive you and your co-travellers. I do not need to tell you that it is only a futile effort intentionally perpetrated knowingly that it is not necessary. Else, do we need a conference to know that the leadership is corrupt?, or that we, the followership are complacent?, or that the elections were rigged?, or that the workers are underpaid?, or that we should not bribe the lawmakers to get through our national budgets?, or most importantly, that you and I have inadvertently joined them and are equally guilty of the charges? Where do you belong?. Help me out.

Frankly,

Labbo

s_labbo@yahoo.com

Malam Yusha'u,

I found your Confab: Religion and Media incisive and interesting. Let me say that I read the article at gamji.com the day I wrote my earlier email to you. In fact I was about mentioning it in that message when my attention was diverted to an outstanding work. On the whole, it's a good one.

Because you drew my attention to the piece, I am taking the liberty of making a few unsolicited observations which are not intended to criticise the article, but are meant to, among others, put some facts in place.

You see, with utmost respect, I want to say that I find some assertions in the article nebulous. It's not the claims as such that I fault, rather your attempt to justify some of them did not wholly suceed.

You said:"While one may argue that the media delegates merit the nomination, even though regionally lopsided, not all the religious representatives at the confab are truly representatives of their respective faiths. The composition appears more to be an amalgam of the political class. For instance, the list of Muslim delegates is short of reputable Islamic scholars and Imams and does not reflect prominent faithfuls from other regions, like Mujahid Asari Dokubo, a famous Muslim from the Ijaw minority tribe of Southern Nigeria, who could make positive contributions on equity and justice than politician (sic) and businessmen."

First, I dont know whether you can justifiably say that Christian reprsentatives are "an amalgam of the political class",but I do know that Sheikh Adam Idoko, Alhaji Ahmad Okiri, Prof Ishaq Oloyede and Justice Abdulkadir Orire can not fit into this description. Thus, of the six Muslim leaders, only two, Ibrahim Tahir and Umaru Shinkafi are renown politicians. Even this,to my mind, does not preclude them from representing their faith so long as they also have a reputation in religious matters, and I think they have.

     Besides this, that we don't have Imams of Central Mosques among the Muslim delegates cannot be a justification to question the credibility of these scholars to stand in for thier fellow faithfuls.

What I find running just short of ignorance (apologies if I use the wrong word) is your postulation that the delegation does not "reflect prominent faithfuls from other regions", because Okiri is from the same Rivers state as Asari Dokubo, while Idoko is from Enugu state. They are, indeed, by far more prominent than Dokubo so long as we are talking abour sholarly prominence as against armed struggle that has nothing to do with Islam. And I dont think the two are politicians nor are they businessmen, thus its unwarranted to think that they could not make "positive contributions on equity and justice".

But for these rather negligible observations, I think the article is another fine work from the expected quarters. The uniqueness in it is that I can't remember reading you on religion, thus I see this piece as part of the spreading tentacles of a giant in writing. May you keep it up and may Allah guide us all.

Thanks a lot.

 Habeeb.

iplhabeeb@yahoo.com

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